Chapter Nineteen: Last Man Standing

"The responsibility for a martial host of a
million lies in one man.He is the trigger of its
spirit."- Wu Ch'i

"She's not gonna hold together much longer, Captain!"
Geordi shouted into his communicator. His expression told the whole
story as he stared at his control panel. Every indicator was in the
red zone, every alarm seemed to be flashing. Crewmen worked
frantically to contain a leak behind him and the ship was starting to
shake, its metallic frame singing a death song.

An earsplitting alarm went off and an ensign working to his right
swore. "God damn it! Junction twelve just blew out, sir ... it's
gonna flood the whole compartment!"

"You can't help them, ensign! Now close the doors! That's an
order!" Geordi shouted back.

The young man stared at him and then complied. Geordi turned back
to his panel, cringing inwardly at the thought of those crewmen
trapped in the flooded compartment. The corrosive gas would dissolve
the skin off their bodies. Not the way I'd want to go, he
thought to himself.

The console showed the doors closing, but thankfully it didn't
show a video feed of the crewmen trapped inside. The blaring alarm
ceased and the ensign pounded his console in anger. "This
shouldn't be happening, sir. Who the hell knew they could grab us
with tractor and repulsor beams?"

"We should have known, ensign. They had all the time
in the world to study that cloaking device."

"Then why don't we just drop the cloak, sir?"

"Not a good idea, ensign. They'll blow us to pieces the
second we decloak. The only way out is to break free of those beams."

"But sir, it would take a miracle to- aw hell! We've got
microfractures in the starboard nacelle strut! She's starting to give
way!" A new barrage of alarms began to sound.

"We're gonna lose her in about thirty seconds if we can't
break free of that tractor beam!" Geordi shouted over the noise.
"Wait, I've got an idea!" he said, tapping his
communicator. "Captain, I recommend we raise shields!"

"Yes sir, but the shields might disperse some of the forces.
That'll take some of the load off the integrity field, and the shield
bubble has a bigger section modulus than the hull!" Laforge
answered, his voice gaining urgency as the ship's impending
destruction drew near.

"All right, Mister Laforge. Raising shields." Picard
answered. After a delay which lasted a few seconds, the shaking began
to subside.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Geordi muttered. He tapped his
communicator again. "It worked, Captain! We've got a few more
minutes, but that's assuming they don't just increase the power. I've
got a feeling they're just toying with us, so I hope you can think of
something fast!"

"So do I, Mister Laforge." Picard replied from the
bridge. The bridge was quiet and calm, a stark contrast to main
engineering. It could have been due to fatalism, misplaced optimism,
or simply their training, but the crew was entirely businesslike and
professional. Every one of them worked to deal with the damage and
casualty reports, while others still reported regularly on the status
of the battle. But although they did not betray a sense of panic, the
shields were dropping at an alarming rate, and they knew they had
only postponed the inevitable.

Jaina turned to face Picard, "Your engineer is right,
Jean-Luc. Jacen is toying with us. He could destroy us at any time."

"No." she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's
over. You forget, Jean-Luc. I can see things before they happen. I'm
going to die."

"I don't believe that!" Picard said firmly.

"It's true, Jean-Luc." she said, her voice cracking.
"I'll never grow old, I'll never have a family-"

"Jaina, I-"

"My son will never be born ..."

"Jaina!" he shouted.

She looked around the bridge, suddenly aware that some of the
crewmen were staring at her. They immediately turned back to their
stations, leaving her and Picard looking at one another. "Jean-Luc,"
she said, trying to compose herself, "there's something I have
to tell you ... before the end."

"It can wait." he said with a forced smile. "You
can tell me after we break free."

On the bridge of the Crimson Blade, Admiral Kanos was furious.
"How the hell did she end up on the Tanaka?"

"Picard picked her up before Search and Rescue could get to
her, sir. We didn't realize what happened until now."

"What was he thinking? She would have been perfectly
safe in the pod until Search and Rescue got her."

"I don't know, sir. Are we going to attempt a rescue?"
Daron asked.

Kanos sighed heavily. "We don't have a choice, Captain. It's
our duty. It looks like this is end-game."

"End game? What do you mean, sir?"

"I mean that a strategic retreat is no longer an option.
Regroup and begin a new offensive. Protect the Tanaka at all costs."

"Admiral, I must protest. That's a suicide mission! Ring
Station reports that they've still got some control over the
wormhole, so this is our last chance to escape."

Kanos locked eyes with Daron. "Your objection is noted,
Captain. And if we somehow survive the journey back home
through a slowly destabilizing wormhole, perhaps you would
like to tell the Emperor that we abandoned his sister to save our own
lives."

Daron lowered his gaze and pulled at his collar, as if he could
feel the cold, invisible noose of the Emperor around his throat
already. "I see your point."

On the bridge of the Death Star, Tharde paced back and forth,
occasionally stopping to look at the timer. Its glowing red symbols
counted down until the primary weapon would be ready to fire again,
but they counted far too slowly for his tastes. He clenched and
unclenched his fists, staring at the timer as if he could will
the timer into counting down faster.

"Again? I thought we sent him packing. All right, put it on
the main viewer."

Kanos' ships were indeed accelerating back toward the Death Star,
taking casualties and firing as they approached. The shield breaches
had grown and some of their blasts struck home, but it was too
little, too late.

Tharde began to chuckle. "He just doesn't know when to quit,
does he?" Dozens of Star Destroyers were reduced to molten slag,
succumbing to the barrage from the Death Star's heavy guns. But
despite their fearsome casualties, Kanos' ships kept coming.

"Sir, it looks like he plans to enter the shield with
his heavy ships!"

Tharde sat forward, his interest piqued. "He's not kidding
around this time, is he? Intensify firepower at the shield breach!"
He watched with growing satisfaction as Star Destroyer after Star
Destroyer attempted to enter the breach, only to be blasted to atoms.
But as before, the drifting clouds of wreckage acted to obscure the
gunners' line of fire, and one of the lumbering ships finally managed
to break through.

"One ship is through, sir. Targeting-" the young officer
was cut off my an explosion which shook the station and knocked him
off his feet.

"Damage report!" Tharde bellowed, scrambling back to his
feet.

"Sir, the ship jumped to hyperspace and rammed the
station! Took out every turret and surface battery in a two kilometre
radius, as well as one buried shield generator unit. But the heavy
armour belt is still intact."

"He's insane ... he's trying to thin out our defenses,"
Tharde muttered in bewilderment, "but for what? He'll run out of
ships before we run out of weapons."

Aboard the Tanaka, the crew watched the suicidal attack unfold.

"He's really pulling out all the stops now."
Portugal said in awe.

"It's a rescue." Jaina said. "He has sworn to
protect my life at all costs."

"Even if he has to sacrifice his entire fleet?" Picard
asked in amazement.

"Yes." Jaina answered sheepishly.

"Sir, his ships are approaching our position!" Portugal
reported. More than a hundred Star Destroyers converged on their
location, taking horrific casualties as they approached. More than
fifty ships were blown apart as they approached, and the survivors
were belching flame and trailing debris.

"This is insanity! What do they hope to accomplish?"
Picard asked. But the words were barely out of his mouth before a
burning, badly damaged Star Destroyer passed right through the
Tanaka. It slowed and stopped so that the cloaked ship was embedded
in its bowels, and the Tanaka shuddered violently. It lurched forward
as if the tractor and repulsor beams had been cut off, but it stopped
again when the stricken Star Destroyer succumbed to a mercilessly
intense turbolaser bombardment and disintegrated around them.

"Son of a bitch ..." Portugal swore. "Kanos' ships
are trying to block the beams, sir! When the other ship passed
through us, the Death Star tractor beams lost the lock!"

"But they regained the lock as soon as it was torn to
pieces." Picard concluded.

Kanos began broadcasting on an open channel. "Admiral Kanos
to USS Tanaka. Get out of there while you can! My ships will escort
you out!"

"Admiral, save your men! It's not worth it!" Picard
protested.

"Captain, my men are dying while we debate this. Get out of
there. Now!" Kanos replied emphatically.

Picard bit off a reply, knowing that Kanos was duty-bound to
sacrifice millions of men if necessary. "Damn it, get us out of
here." he ordered.

The ship accelerated away from the maelstrom in fits and starts,
as starship after starship sacrificed itself to buy time for their
escape.

Picard tried to talk some sense into Kanos. "Admiral, I still
have a mission to complete. I've got to enter the Death Star!"

Picard waited until the channel was closed, and then asked the
question on everyone's mind. "Jaina, what is Operation Javelin?"

Her eyes were downcast. "A weapon of last resort. No one
knows about it but Kanos, Daron, and myself."

"Another superweapon?" Picard asked, wondering
how many instruments of mass destruction the Empire had brought into
his galaxy. "Where is it?"

"Believe it or not, it's been sitting right under your noses
all this time." Jaina replied. "But it comes with a price.
It's too bad ... I would have liked to see Coruscant one more time."

Aboard the Death Star, Tharde watched the incredibly costly rescue
operation proceed. "He's throwing his men into the meat grinder
just to save Jaina." he muttered in amazement.

The junior officer returned. "Sir, we've monitored some
strange activity on the ring station. The energy readings are
skyrocketing. It looks like they're going to lose containment on the
energy stream soon."

"But sir, the ring station is very similar to a giant
particle accelerator."

"Yes, yes, I'm already aware of that, lieutenant."

"Its circumference is nearly four thousand kilometres."

"Thank you for the technical review, lieutenant."
Tharde hissed with obvious annoyance. "I hope you have a
point."

"Well, if they keep ramping up the power, they'll eventually
lose containment of the energy stream. If that happens-"

"The station will be destroyed. The wormhole will completely
destabilize. That's exactly what we were trying to accomplish, young
man."

"Yes sir, but if they drop containment properly, they can
control the direction of energy release."

Tharde threw his hands up. "Who cares? The wormhole would
still destabilize. What would they accomplish by ..."
Tharde's eyes widened and his voice trailed into silence.

"Sir, they can turn that station into a huge particle cannon.
They'll only get one shot ..."

"But that's all they're going to need. Maker help us!"
Tharde sputtered. He fumbled for his comlink and tried to contact
Jacen.

Alone on the darkened overbridge, Jacen had begun to rant anew.
"You'll never escape, dear sister! You can run, and you can hide
behind your lackey Kanos, but there is no escape! I will destroy him,
I will destroy his fleet, and I will hunt you down no matter where
you go!" He shut off the transmission to answer Tharde's
blinking signal.

"Silence!" Jacen thundered. "I don't have time to
waste on your petty concerns!"

"But my Lord," Tharde spluttered, glancing nervously at
something out of the holocam's view, "he's going to attack us
with the ring station."

"Fool! We are invincible!" Jacen roared.
"Begone!" he shouted, shutting off the channel.

To Jacen's utter astonishment, the worthless bureaucrat actually
had the temerity to re-open the channel. His holographic image
appeared once more. "My Lord, please! We must-"

"How dare you defy me!" Jacen screamed. "You
have made your last mistake, fool!" he thundered, as Tharde
began to clutch at his throat. He crushed the life out of the Grand
Moff in seconds, then he turned his attention back to Jaina. He tried
to reach out with the Force to feel her fear again, but something
nagged at the back of his mind. What was that idiot Tharde talking
about?

Millions of kilometres away, the ring station was reaching
overload level.

"The javelin is ready, Admiral." the ring station
commander reported.

"Commander Kinan, may your aim be true. Fire." Kanos
ordered.

Seconds later, a precisely controlled forcefield shutdown released
the station's enormous payload. The gargantuan energy stream
obliterated a section of the ring's outer wall, and shot out in one
long, cohesive line toward the Death Star.

"Only six microradians off, Admiral." Daron exclaimed
with a gleam in his eye. "We've got him!"

On the Death Star's overbridge, Jacen felt the threat,
rather than seeing it. He saw a blindingly bright white line in his
mind, drawing itself between the distant ring station and his Death
Star, and he saw what would happen when it struck home. His eyes
snapped open. "No ..." he whispered.

Aboard the swarms of Federation and Imperial ships battling for
supremacy around the Death Star, they all picked up the approaching
threat. Hundreds of starship captains screamed orders for their
helmsmen to get away from the path of the incinerating beam. They had
mere seconds to act, and for many of them, it wasn't enough. Hundreds
of starships and fighters were caught in the path of the beam and
disappeared as if they had never been. It plunged through the breach
in the shield, through the warring ships, and into the surface with a
cataclysmic impact.

Millions of Death Star crewmen died instantly as the beam carved
out an enormous hole, blasting its way hundreds of kilometres deep
into the Death Star's innards. A vast plume of vapourized metal and
white-hot debris shot away from the impact crater, obliterating
everything in its path. The widespread destruction caused systems to
overload and fail all over the entire battle station, and in an
instant, the crew of the Death Star went from a calmly conducted
textbook defense to a desperate struggle for survival. It was all
they could do to control the station's massive machinery and keep it
from self-destructing.

"Kanos!" Jacen screamed amid the chaos of the overbridge
as wreckage fell from the ceiling and flames rose around him. "I
will destroy you!" He contacted the bridge. He couldn't
remember the name of Tharde's second in command, but that hardly
mattered. "Commander, target the Crimson Blade with the
superlaser."

"My Lord, that is impossible. Primary weapon control is
inoperative. The superlaser array has been heavily damaged. The
shield is down, and propulsion control is out! The whole power grid
is fluctuating- we can't maintain defensive fire." The terrified
officer saw bank after bank of turbolaser turrets and batteries going
silent on his status displays, and the tactical display showed that
the surviving attackers were now free to wreak havoc on what remained
of the battered space station.

Jacen raged at him. "We've lost our ability to fight? How
dare you fail me?"

"My Lord, there is too much damage- urrgh ..." the
unfortunate officer's words trailed away to a death rattle in his
throat, as the invisible grip of the Force crushed the man's
windpipe. Jacen roared in frustration and lashed out again with the
Force, uprooting everything in the overbridge and scattering it about
the room like leaves before a hurricane. When he regained control of
his anger, he turned to the door and casually noted that the guards
had been killed by the flying debris. He casually deflected a falling
girder, stepped over their broken bodies, and with a flare of blue
lightning from his fingertips, tore the door to pieces. He stalked
through the ruined door and into the hallway beyond, his eyes glowing
fiercely.

Aboard the Tanaka, Picard watched the carnage with a mixture of
elation and horror. "We're free! Turn us around, and set a
course for the Death Star's main reactor. Best possible speed."
he ordered.

"Jean-Luc, no!" Jaina exclaimed. "The Death
Star is doomed, but Jacen is the real threat- we must stop him
when he tries to escape."

"But now we can destroy the Death Star." Picard
protested.

"The fleet will do that for us, Jean-Luc. Look." she
said, pointing at the viewscreen. Indeed, Kanos' fleet was now
attacking with the defenseless Death Star with renewed vigour. Salvo
after salvo plunged into the Death Star's unprotected surface, many
striking deep within the gaping hole and destroying the exposed
equipment therein. All of the light attack craft which had survived
the initial blast were now flying into the hole, blasting away at
obstructions and wending their way through the superstructure toward
the reactor core.

"Yes, but we can destroy it faster than they can, and with
fewer casualties."

"And if Jacen escapes, all of this will be for nothing. We
must stop him, Jean-Luc."

"All right," Picard agreed, "but how are we going
to find him?" The viewscreen showed thousands of ships pouring
out of the Death Star, as its crew abandoned the doomed battle
station for the relative safety of deep space. "He could be on
any of those ships."

"Look for a two hundred metre long space yacht." Jaina
replied.

The Tanaka's sensors swept through the horde of escaping starships
for what seemed to be a very long time, before Portugal reported
success. "Captain, I'm picking up a space yacht. It fits the
tactical profile of Jacen's personal ship."

"Good. Jaina, what kind of weaponry does Jacen have on that
ship?" Picard asked.

"I wish I'd paid more attention when he used to talk about
his ship. I know he's got some weapons, but I'm not sure what type."
Jaina replied apologetically. "But it's not a warship. It's just
a modified space yacht. My father helped him modify it. They used to
stay up all night ... Chewbacca would sometimes help ..." her
voice trailed off, as she thought of better times.

"We're coming in weapons range, Captain." Portugal
reported.

"Target his engines and prepare to fire-"

"No!" Jaina exclaimed. "He's not on that
ship. It's a decoy. If he were on board, I would have felt him by
now."

"Great." Portugal grumbled. "Now what do we
do?"

Jaina closed her eyes. "He's on an unmarked transport."
she whispered. He's surrounded by hundreds of ... hundreds of ...
children."

Picard grimaced. "All right, open a channel." Picard
ordered. He adopted his most commanding tone of voice. "Jacen,
your ship is disabled. You cannot escape. Surrender and prepare to be
boarded, and you will receive a fair trial."

The sound of laughter could be heard as Jacen responded. "A
fair trial? Don't waste my time, Captain. I don't need your help, or
your empty promises. I have four hundred hostages. You will surrender
your vessel. You will lower your shields and allow me to board
your ship. And if you do not comply, I will kill the children
one by one."

On the bridge of the Crimson Blade, the enemy's exposed throat
seemed to energize the crew. Most of them had all but forgotten the
fact that they were now stranded in this galaxy, so eager were they
to strike the crippled Death Star and its defenders. The fleet had
inflicted a punishing assault upon the traitors, and the end was
near.

"Admiral, the Death Star's main reactor is going critical!"
Daron reported.

"Good." Kanos replied. He walked over to a
communications panel and opened a channel. "This is Admiral
Kanos to all Imperial ships. The Death Star's main reactor is
destabilizing. Retreat to minimum safe distance immediately. Repeat,
retreat to minimum safe distance immediately."

Swarms of fighters, cruisers, destroyers and battleships responded
to the warning. Ships on both sides, cognizant of the immediate
danger to their mutual survival, temporarily suspended their struggle
in their flight to safety. In their wake, desperate Death Star
reactor control technicians struggled with their damaged equipment.
Success would mean another minute of survival, and perhaps more, but
failure would mean vapourization. They didn't even notice the passage
of time until it began to occur to them that they had survived for
longer than they expected to. Incredibly, some of the reactor core
readings were actually stabilizing, and it looked like they would be
able to successfully throttle it back to a safe level.

Kanos observed the retreating ships, until most of the combatant
vessels were safely out of range. "Captain, may I assume that
your ships successfully disabled Jacen's ship?"

"No, not yet. He's too dangerous. We'll keep him bottled up
in his ship until we decide what to do with him."

"Yes, sir."

"Um, Captain ..."

"Sir?"

"Why hasn't the Death Star exploded yet?"

Daron cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I don't understand,
sir. They must have somehow brought it back from the brink."

"Either that, or it was a ruse." Kanos mused.

"Shall we attack?"

"No. Tharde might be willing to surrender." He gestured
to one of the communications officers, who opened a channel. He
cleared his throat. "This is Admiral Kanos to Grand Moff Tharde.
We have destroyed your defenses and weakened your forces. It is time
to discuss terms of your surrender."

On the bridge of the Tanaka, the horrified crew saw the body of a
small boy float out of the airlock of Jacen's transport.

"All right!" Picard cried hastily. "We will do as
you ask! We will drop our shields, and we will allow you to board the
Tanaka. We have disabled all intruder control systems, we have
blocked command access from anywhere but the main bridge, and we have
placed the transporter system into a diagnostic cycle. It cannot be
used for three hours."

Damned telepaths! Picard frowned and then nodded at
Portugal to proceed. "Very well, we will disable our cargo bay
and shuttle transporter systems."

"Do not attempt to deceive me again." Jacen's
shuttle soon made the short trip from the transport to the Tanaka's
shuttle bay, and it eased down onto the hard metal deck. The ramp
opened, and Jacen strode out confidently to face a squad of Starfleet
marines.

He smiled. "A welcoming party ... very good. Take me to the
bridge." The marines silently parted to let him through, though
their weapons remained trained on him with nervous fingers tensing on
the triggers.

On the bridge, Portugal noted Jacen's arrival. "Jacen is on
his way, Captain."

Picard's new first officer was distinctly uncomfortable with the
situation. "Are you sure this is a good idea? If the reports are
true, this man is extremely dangerous." he asked.

"Jaina feels she can handle him, Number One." Picard
answered. If it had been Riker, he might have told him about the
Stone of Gol. But this man had supposedly been picked at random, and
he didn't feel entirely comfortable with him. The Stone would have to
remain hidden for now.

The doors to the turbolift slid open, and Jacen walked onto the
bridge. He betrayed no concern about the dozens of phasers aimed at
him, and he seemed to exude a sense of power and confidence that
everyone could feel the moment he entered.

"What do you want with my ship, Jacen?" Picard asked
loudly, hiding the Stone of Gol behind his back.

"Do not address your Lord and Master in that tone!"
Jacen roared. Picard felt a sensation like icy cold fingers around
his throat and he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. The
Stone of Gol fell to the floor as his hands involuntarily went to his
neck in an instinctive attempt to remove the suffocating grip. Black
spots clouded his vision, and he could see that the rest of the
bridge crew was similarly stricken. The marines died almost
immediately, their necks snapped like twigs. Jacen had apparently
reserved a slower death for the rest.

Lieutenant Portugal somehow managed to draw his phaser, and with
shaking hands, he fired a shot at the glowering Sith warrior. Jacen
seemed to anticipate the attack, and his hand was already moving
upward when the weapon was fired. The blast ricocheted off his hand
and directly back toward Portugal, striking him squarely in the
chest. Portugal fell with a look of disbelief frozen on his face.

Even before Portugal's body hit the floor, Jaina was already
lunging at Jacen with a lightning-quick motion of her lightsabre. He
produced his own lightsabre from inside his cloak, jumped back and
parried her thrust at the last instant. Brother and sister eyed each
other warily, their humming lightsabres between them.

"I have no use for those underlings," Jacen said, as he
effortlessly squeezed the life out of the rest of the bridge crew,
"but I will spare these two." He raised his hand in a mock
gesture of magnanimity as he released his suffocating grip on Picard
and Counsellor Troi. "So they can watch you die."

Picard sucked precious air into his lungs, and he had enough
presence of mind to wave off Troi before she attempted anything
foolish. He massaged his throat and crept toward the Stone of Gol,
still laying on the floor.

Jaina looked at her brother, and saw nothing but single-minded
blood lust. She had seen him angry before, and she had seen him
prepare for combat. But this was different- he had changed somehow,
and she knew that his powers had grown. She didn't know whether it
was some Dark Side sorcery or some unspeakable horror he had
unleashed upon his kidnapped infant students, but he had gained new
strength from somewhere, and this was not the same man she expected
to see. She tried to focus her thoughts.

"What? Nothing to say, dear sister?"

"Not yet." Jaina replied defiantly, as she lunged toward
him again. Their blades met, and they began duelling in earnest.

Picard picked up the Stone of Gol and turned toward the duelling
siblings in triumph, but the two fought so furiously that he couldn't
get a clear shot. "Jaina, get out of the way!" he cried.

Both combatants ignored him, and they continued to fight. But
Jaina was weakening by the moment. With each slash, lunge and parry,
she seemed to wilt a bit more, and Jacen's strength seemed to grow.
He pressed and she retreated, still fighting valiantly. But Picard
could see that her strength was waning, and cursed beneath his
breath. He had a white-knuckled grip on the Stone of Gol, but he was
powerless to help her.

"You are weak, Jaina. You power is fading."

Jaina said nothing, as she desperately blocked a series of vicious
attacks. She began to falter, and fell back again. Jacen was pressing
his advantage to the hilt. He commenced a furious attack, raining
blow after blow down on his wilting sister. She staggered backward
again, and found herself with her back to the wall.

"Jaina, get away from him!" Picard pleaded, but she had
nowhere to go.

She knew the danger she faced, and in desperation, she gathered
her strength and charged at him. But he avoided her thrust
effortlessly, and she overextended herself. His counterstrike caught
her in the side, and she collapsed to the ground with a shriek of
pain.

"No!" Picard screamed. In an unthinking rage he
unleashed the Stone of Gol, and the ancient psionic weapon conjured
up a nightmarish glowing spectre. Jacen put out his hand and his skin
seemed to crawl with blue lightning, but the luminescent cloud swept
through him unabated. It lifted him off his feet and hurled him
against the wall with a heavy thump, and then the Sith lord fell to
the floor and lay still.

"Medical emergency!" Picard barked into his communicator
as he rushed to Jaina's prone form. Her eyes fluttered open and she
tried to speak.

"Jean-Luc ..." she gasped. Dark, almost black blood
oozed from her side, and he knew that she was seriously, perhaps
mortally wounded. Troi picked up Jacen's lightsabre and gave it to
him.

"Jacen is dead." he said, brandishing Jacen's lightsabre
for her to see. "Everything will be all right. Help is on the
way." he assured her. Her blood was on his hands, and tears
streamed down his face as he tried to staunch the flow from her
wounded midsection.

"How ..."

"A psionic weapon. It's right here," he said, holding it
up and letting her see it. He never did know if she saw it, because
her eyes were already closed. He felt her go limp in his arms, and he
gingerly laid her down on the floor. He didn't even notice Troi
stiffening in terror beside him.

"Captain!" Troi cried in a panicked voice.

Picard looked up, only to see the Stone of Gol leap off the floor
and fly through the air. He watched in horror as it flew directly
into an outstretched black-gloved hand. Jacen slowly stood up, and
Picard felt a sickening sense of dread. The weakened Sith Lord stood
unsteadily and leaned against a wall, but he was very much alive.

"The next time ... you try to kill a Sith Lord," Jacen
sneered, seeming to gain strength by the second, "make sure you
finish the job."

Counsellor Troi pressed the lightsabre into Picard's hand. He
activated the weapon and its humming blade shot forth. "I can
fix that mistake." he said with a forced show of confidence.

Jacen was unimpressed by Picard's display of bravado or the sight
of his own lightsabre. He examined the Stone of Gol in his hands. "I
see you have a primitive Dark Side weapon. Impressive." He aimed
the weapon at Counsellor Troi, and a wave of psionic energy appeared
between them. She barely had time to scream before it swept through
her and completely disintegrated her body. "Most
impressive."

"Monster!" Picard shouted, advancing toward Jacen. It
had taken mere seconds for Jacen to learn the inner workings of the
Stone of Gol, and make it more powerful than he thought possible. He
pushed aside a growing sense of terror and brandished the lightsabre,
but it was abruptly ripped from his hand. Picard expression changed
to one of grim resignation as he watched the lightsabre glide through
the air and land firmly in Jacen's palm.

"Fool." Jacen sneered, walking confidently forward. "You
don't know the power you face." He strolled toward a hidden
hatch in the floor and abruptly plunged the lightsabre's glowing
blade through the hatch. Picard heard bloodcurdling screams and
clenched his fists in impotent rage as Jacen plucked a thermal
detonator from his belt and dropped it down the hole. The ensuing
blast made the entire deck shake, and the screaming stopped. "And
they shouldn't have tried to interfere."

"That wasn't necessary." Picard growled from between
clenched teeth.

"I know." Jacen said with a smile. "Now, take us
into the wormhole."

"No."

"Fool. You aren't indispensable. I don't need you to take
control of this ship."

"Your overconfidence is your weakness. I have locked out the
ship's computer, and only I know the code."

Jacen smiled, and addressed the computer. "Computer, override
command lockout. Authorization code Jacen, omega five five nine."
The computer processed the instruction briefly, and then the bridge
consoles became alive with activity. System after system
reinitialized itself, and the bridge was fully functional again. His
smile grew even wider, and he continued. "Computer, restrict
system access to Imperial personnel."

Jacen swung his lightsabre at Picard again, and Picard hastily
jumped out of the way. "Now you see. Did you really
think Kanos would give you control? Your ship's computer was
reprogrammed when it was in our custody. Your command access was an
illusion. On this ship, root privilege is reserved for the Empire."

"Then why didn't you take control of the ship remotely? Why
board my ship?" Picard asked, silently cursing Kanos for not
having trusted him.

Jacen's eyes gleamed. "Fool. I had to kill my traitorous
wench sister, and I wanted you to watch."

"You can't escape, and the wormhole is unstable. Your allies
are gone, and Kanos will kill you at the first opportunity. If you
think you can escape, you're insane."

"And you're stalling for time, Picard. Here," he said,
gesturing toward one of the bodies strewn about the deck. A hand
phaser leapt from the corpse's hand and flew toward Picard, who
caught it. "Now you have a weapon. Try to die like a
man."

Picard held the phaser in his hand, and considered his options. It
didn't take him long to come to a decision. "I won't give you
the satisfaction." Picard said, dropping his arms to his side
and letting the phaser fall to the floor. "You can kill me if
you want, but I won't perform in your game."

"Very well, then. So be it." Jacen snarled. He raised
his lightsabre over his head, and Picard tensed in anticipation of
the death blow. But there was a loud popping sound, and Jacen stopped
dead in his tracks. His eyes bulged, and he looked down in disbelief.
The tip of a glowing lightsabre blade protruded from his chest, and
Picard saw that Jaina had somehow struggled to her knees and run him
through from behind. Brother and sister remained frozen in place for
a few seconds, and then both collapsed to the deck.

Picard was not one to make the same mistake twice. He picked up
the phaser, set it to maximum power, and fired it point-blank at
Jacen's body. The corpse disintegrated completely, and he heaved a
sigh of relief. The turbolift doors snapped open, and he realized
that Jacen must have been holding them closed somehow. Doctor Crusher
and some of her staff came running out, and they went to examine the
dead and wounded. Crusher ran directly to Jaina, while the rest of
the medics checked the rest of the bodies for life signs.

"How is she, Doctor?"

"She's been very seriously wounded, Captain. The wound is
very deep, and her liver has been partially disintegrated."

"Can you save her?" Picard asked, his voice quivering.

Doctor Crusher couldn't look him in the eyes, and shook her head.
"Jean-Luc, I don't even understand why she's still alive. These
wounds should be fatal." She continued to work, and swept her
tricorder over Jaina's abdomen. She stopped, double-checked her
readings, and her eyes widened. She tapped her communicator badge.
"Doctor Crusher to sickbay, prepare for emergency surgery."

"Doctor, what's happening?"

"Captain, this woman is pregnant."

Commander Riker looked at the alien display system in front of
him. "Admiral, the Death Star has signalled its surrender."

Ruk's new rank insignia was still shiny, and it would take some
time to get used to the title of Admiral. But as the architect of the
new Rebel Alliance and the only one who had ever fought Kanos and
lived, Ruk was the logical choice to command the fleet. He leaned
forward in his chair. "Damn him. I was hoping they would destroy
each other. Report status of Kanos' fleet."

"He's down to roughly a thousand capships, many of which have
suffered serious damage or shield depletion."

"What about fighters?"

"It's hard to get an accurate count. I think we're looking at
around fifty thousand."

"Death Star defenses?"

"Hard to say. The Death Star power grid is fluctuating and
its defensive systems are powering up and down randomly."

"Ring station?"

"A few hundred turrets, nothing else. But the station's
shield is at full strength."

"All right. We'll move the fleet in closer, and try to get
targeting solutions-"

"Captain, the Romulan ships are breaking formation!" one
of the tactical officers exclaimed.

"What? Contact the Romulan fleet commander. Tell him to get
back into formation immediately."

"They are ignoring hails, sir. They've gone to warp."

Captain Ruk swore loudly, in an incomprehensible jibberish
language that was apparently not in the universal translator's
database. He pounded his armrest in frustration and then calmed
himself. "Fools! Vengeful fools! Well Commander, it looks like
your Romulan friends are hungry for vengeance."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"What can I do? I was hoping that only one side would
survive. We don't have enough ships to destroy Kanos' fleet and the
Death Star at the same time."

"Admiral, the Romulans are the heavy hitters of our fleet."
Riker gently reminded him. Many of the other governments had
officially allied themselves with the Empire for fear of reprisals,
but the Romulans had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the cause.
Thus, their ships comprised more than a third of the fleet, and more
than half of the firepower.

"Yes, they are." Ruk agreed. "I take it you think
we should back them up?

"We can't destroy both Kanos and the Death Star, but we can
destroy the Death Star itself. Its defenses are down. This will be
our only chance, Admiral."

"Maybe, but we'll probably all be destroyed in the process.
Blaze of glory, eh Riker?"

"Admiral, the Klingons have a saying: Today is a good day to
die."

Ruk smiled. "Riker, you would have made a fine rebel. You're
a madman, but you would have made a fine rebel nonetheless. I think
perhaps I've been running from Kanos for long enough." He
flipped on his voice transmitter. "All ships, go to battle
stations. Repeat, all ships, battle stations. Set nav co-ordinates
for the Death Star and jump to hyperspace on my mark." He
flipped off the transmission and turned to Riker again. "It's
time we finished this."